What happened to the Jets in the AFC championship game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers was quite simple. THE JETS needed to be the underdog and have the odds stacked against them in order to play well and motivated. For example during Wildcard weekend against the Colts the Jets were the underdogs (even if they had a better regular season record) and they played quite well winning by 1 point. Same story against the Patriots. No one including Jet lovers thought that the Jets were actually going to win that game. I mean the Jets were flat out beat in the 45-3 rout against the Patriots during the regular season and it would have been quite a shocker if they had won. So with the odds stacked against them, the Jets were in their true/best form during the first two weeks of the postseason, specifically the week before the Patriots Game. They were talking trash, making predictions, and getting motivated and pumped for an opponent that the world gave them no chance to win against. And the Jets played balls to the wall, and beat the Patriots in surprising fashion. BUTwhat happened after the Patriots game? What happened to the team that talked smack and let their opponent know of the beating they were going to bring? What happened to the coach that guaranteed victories? What happened was that for the first time all playoffs and probably all season the Jets were a favorite by many to make it to the SuperBowl. Waittttt….the Jets in the Superbowl or even win the Superbowl? No wayyyyyy….

And even the Jets were not prepared to be that team that the world for the first time was starting to have confidence and believe in. The Jets wanted to be that true underdog as they were all season when non Jet football fans were saying “Yes you are winning, but you are lucky in how you are winning and you are only beating bad teams.” And during the playoffs when no one expected the Jets to beat Manning and Brady in back to back weeks. But the Jets did beat the Colts and Pats, and when it was time to get out of this “We are the underdogs and we are going to prove the world wrong, beat up on our opponent and win the Superbowl” mentality, the Jets were for the first time all season not themselves against Pittsburgh.

The day after the Jets beat the Patriots you saw it in the face of their coach, Rex Ryan who all year claimed a Superbowl victory but no one actually believed the stupid fat man. And for the first time in a playoff press conference Rex didn’t have the same confidence or swag, nor make any guarantees in true Rex fashion. Even the players seemed sort of shocked that they had won, and many of them did not “talk like a Jet”. So the Jets for the first time all season were in a dilemma as to how to get themselves prepared to beat the Steelers and make it to the Superbowl. The Jets did not talk trash the week before the AFC Championship game and did not portray themselves as that underdog that they wanted to be all season. And the world would see it in the first half of the AFC Championship game.

Bart Scott couldn't wait to miss about 5 tackles in the AFC Championship Game. Believe it or not the Jets could not get motivated for this game until they were down 24-3 and the underdog once again.

In the first half of the AFC Championship Game the Jets came out as if they had 10 pound weights wrapped around their ankles. They couldn’t run, block, tackle, and even cover at times. Rashard Mendenhall made the Jets look like a college football team. On the other hand, if you watched how the Jets played against New England, especially in the first half, the Jets looked so much faster and much more aggressive on both sides of the ball. Now yes fatigue may have played a factor in the Jets soft play against the Steelers in the first half, but what about the second half? In the second half down 24-3, the Jets were back in their “underdog, world against us mentality, and their play showed.” With the second half starting, down 24-3, and no one expecting the Jets to win: the Jets miraculously got that speed and aggression back. Of course the Steelers did take the foot of the gas pedal a bit, but by watching the Jets in the second half they for sure had the same speed and aggression that we saw the previous 2 weeks of the postseason.

However, at the end of the day time ran out, as it does with most teams that play in this fashion. To be a Champion you have to go out and get it. You can’t wait for someone or something to give you a reason to win, but you have to JUST GO OUT AND WIN. And at the end of the day the Jets did play like a Jet, and did not have that F the world mentality until the second half down 24-3, but time as it always does in sports runs out. The Jets were probably better off talking trash the week before the Steeler game. And the Jets would see their season end and it was a great season in all respects. Lets see how the Jets come out next year because we all know big Rexy may gain a few pounds back after this postseason. Rex you need to either get on that Elliptical or keep making those videos to keep yourself active so you don’t gain that weight back….LETSSS GETTT ITTT REXX.